If the "esport" season overlaps with football, you could schedule your events at halftime and display it on the big screen. That might get the students out.

TBH I'm a big supporter of this for Rice. I hang out a lot at MIT these days and I'm very impressed by how much they celebrate/play up their nerd culture, etc. I think Rice would be well served to do the same, with nerd sports and all the rest. We should have a top chess team, a top Starcraft (or whatever the kids play these days) team, etc.

(11-22-2017 01:15 PM)owl95 Wrote:  

(11-22-2017 01:13 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  Is there really an 'audience' for esports? I'm old I admit, but nothing is more boring to me than watching someone else play a video game unless I'm 'next'.

I see it as a sport of sorts that places like Cal Tech or even Full Sail should dominate with the 'professionals' being the video game companies, but not a spectator sport.

This was several years ago, but League of Legends tournaments routinely sell out arenas worldwide.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/...4ff22b32b8

And that Forbes article was from back in 2013. It's grown quite a bit since then.

A couple years ago my son asked me to accompany him to an international League of Legends tourney that was being hosted at the big arena here in San Jose. I had no idea what was happening, but everyone else in the audience did. It was an electric environment. :-)

My son tells me that the world's top players do nothing else and live in team houses. Many players burn out or see their skills degrade after a couple of years. True excellence in this endeavor seems to require total dedication to the exclusion of distractions such as a conventional education. I can see eSports being the sort of extra-curricular club that already exists at Rice. But I cannot see the value to Rice of true "varsity" intercollegiate competition (aside from the fun of traditional club sports intercollegiate competitions).

(11-22-2017 04:18 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  My son tells me that the world's top players do nothing else and live in team houses. Many players burn out or see their skills degrade after a couple of years. True excellence in this endeavor seems to require total dedication to the exclusion of distractions such as a conventional education. I can see eSports being the sort of extra-curricular club that already exists at Rice. But I cannot see the value to Rice of true "varsity" intercollegiate competition (aside from the fun of traditional club sports intercollegiate competitions).

How is this different than being competitive in any major sport? Baker Mayfield, Cam newton or Jameis Winston - none of those guys were in school to get an education.

I certainly see the concern, but I think if we got in early enough and helped shape it as a sport, we could maintain our educational principles while being better than where we are on the pecking order of traditional sports.

Massive drug problems, too. Lots of Adderall and PEDs.

Most of us are pretty ignorant on this subject, but I have a few questions:

Is there coaching involved?
Is there a preseason?
Is clapping important?

(11-22-2017 05:18 PM)wrysal Wrote:  Most of us are pretty ignorant on this subject, but I have a few questions:

Is there coaching involved?
Is there a preseason?
Is clapping important?

Do we have to have a team hug after every point, a la volleyball?